Parcel tax elections are held when a taxing district in California wants to raise revenues through imposing an additional tax called a parcel tax. The taxes are a form of property tax, which must be paid by the owners of parcels of real estate. However, unlike standard property taxes, which are based on the value of the property, a parcel tax is an assessment based on the characteristics of the parcel. School districts have created assessments that range from flat amounts per parcel to assessments based on parcel lot square footage or building square foot. Some school districts have assessed residential parcels using one method and non-residential using another method.

If voters approve them, parcel taxes can be imposed on public school districts, and on other local units of government. There are 1,042 public school districts in California[1] and between 1983-2009, about 245 of them have adopted a parcel tax.[2]

According to researchers William Duncombe and John Yinger in a 2007 study, California is the only state that allows parcel taxes as a method of funding schools.[3]

1983 was the first year that school districts put parcel tax questions on the ballot. Seven school districts referred parcel tax measures to the ballot that year. Three of those measures were approved.[4]

From time-to-time, various politicians have suggested that the threshold for approving a parcel tax measure should also be reduced from 2/3rds to 55%. The 2013 session of the California State Legislature is widely expected to refer a measure to the 2014 statewide ballot to ask voters to reduce the parcel tax threshold to 55%.[5]

Approval rates of school district parcel taxes

Between 1983 and November 5, 2013, elections took place on 581 school district parcel tax requests. 317 of the school district parcel tax measures were approved.[6] (Note that in the period 1983-2013, a number of school districts held more than one parcel tax vote, so the figure of 317 approvals does not mean that 317 different school districts adopted a parcel tax.)

School district parcel tax elections from 1983-November 5, 2013

Status

Number

%

a Approved

317

54.6%

d Defeated

264

45.4%

Totals:

571

100%

Donor disclosure

Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, said in April 2010 that California's open records law should be amended so that private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations that support the state's schools would be subject to the sunshine law.[7] If the state's sunshine law is amended in accordance with Yee's views, that would mean that when educational foundations give money to local campaigns to pass parcel tax measures, they would have to reveal their donors. California law currently requires that donors to political campaigns, including parcel tax campaigns, be disclosed. However, if an educational non-profit is a donor, the campaign only has to disclose the name of that foundation, not the names of any of the donors to that foundation. Yee's proposal would change this, so that voters could see not only who gave money to a campaign, but who gave money to a foundation that gave money to a campaign.

June 15

June 8

Twenty-three parcel tax measures were on the June 8, 2010 ballot. 17 of them (74%) were approved. Of the parcel tax measures on the June 8 ballot, eleven were for school funding and twelve were for non-school taxing districts, including libraries, cities and so on.

School

Twenty-one school parcel tax ballot propositions were on the November 4, 2008 ballot in 21 school districts. In order to pass, each parcel tax measure needed the approval of a supermajority of at least 2/3rds of those voters voting in the election.